Mall of America owner is moving ahead, planning to bring the nation’s largest project to South Florida.
Slated for a 174-acre site of mostly empty farmland along the Florida Turnpike in Miami Lakes, the retail and entertainment complex will house 2,000 hotel rooms, multiple indoor rollercoasters, an artificial ski slope, water park, skating rink, fishing hole, performing arts center, and a lagoon with submarine rides.
If American Dream Miami looks more like Disney than Macy’s, it’s because it’s exactly like that. While earlier plans had set aside approximately 3.5 million square feet for retail and 1.5 million square feet for entertainment, the Wall Street Journal reports that the latest project inverts this ratio to pay more attention on experiential offerings over traditional for-sale commercial goods.
An ambitious $4 billion plan comes from Triple Five Group which developed Mall of America in Minnesota, which held the title of the largest mall in the world when it opened 35 years ago. The Canadian company acquired the land for American Dream in 2015 and received permission for zoning by Miami-Dade County commissioners last month.
The group also behind the upcoming New Jersey retail and entertainment complex American Dream Meadowlands. Previously known as Xanadu, the controversial development has been in the works for a staggering 16 years. Triple Five Group has taken on the struggling development in 2013 and expects to open next spring.
As for the mega-project in South Florida, the development team still needs to complete environmental permitting before any kind of construction can begin. American Dream Miami hopes to attract 30 million visitors annually.
